Hearts Still Beating

By Brooke Archer

Book Overview

Gripping, romantic, and impossible to put down, this dark and immersive post-apocalyptic debut novel is about two teen girls who loved each other before the end of the world -- and before one of them became infected with the virus that turned her into a monster.

Perfect for fans of Krystal Sutherland, Adam Silvera, and the darkly human side of the HBOMax horror-drama, The Last of Us.

Seventeen-year-old Mara is dead--mostly. Infected with a virus that brought the dead back to life and the world to its knees, she wakes up in a facility to learn a treatment for the disease has been found. No longer a Tick, Mara is placed in an experimental resettlement program. But her recovery is complicated by her destination: she's sent to live with the best friend she hasn't seen since the world ended--and since their first and only kiss.

Seventeen-year-old Rory is alive--barely. With impaired mobility from an injury and a dead sister, Rory's nightmares are just as monstrous as the Ticks that turned her former best friend. Even after the Island--one of a handful of surviving communities--rebuilds itself, Rory is prepared for the Ticks to return at any time. She never expected them to come in the form of the only girl she's ever loved.

As the girls struggle with their pasts and the people they've become, and with the Island's fragile peace in the balance, Rory and Mara must lean on each other to survive--or risk losing the girl they love all over again.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0593698320
• ISBN13: 9780593698327
• Release Date: April 2024
• Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.5" x 8.4"
• Age Range: 14 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 9 and higher

Customer Reviews

Zombie apocalypse sapphic love story

Hearts Still Beating is set in an apocalyptic world in which a zombie virus has ravaged the population, turning the infected into cannibalistic killing machines called Ticks. Scientists have developed a medication which can reverse the zombie changes and restore an affected person's humanity. Mara, who did horrendous things as a Tick, is one of these patients, called the Altered. Her treatment is successful and she going to live with her godparents and her former best friend and crush Rory. Rory has been traumatized by loss (as has all of humanity) and is resistant to Mara's arrival, worried that she will start killing again. The story is tense, compelling, beautiful, emotional, violent and tragic. The world building was excellent. This book makes the reader think about what makes a person human vs. a monster. Hearts Still Beating is a story about the triumph and survival of love after trauma and change. I could not put it down.

The Walking Dead meets iZombie meets Warm Bodies

This book is everything you could want in a post apocalyptic zombie story. There’s romance, comedy, action, drama. It’s dark and gritty with flashes of light. It’s exactly what you think it is and not at all. I had a hard time putting it down when I needed to. It is 300ish pages of a beautifully written tale of two young women surviving the end of the modern world and finding their way back to each other and a life worth living. It’s The Walking Dead meets iZombie meets Warm Bodies. The attention to detail was amazing. Visuals clear and easy to picture. A wonderful read for long time zombie fans and a perfect story to introduce newer fans to the genre. I absolutely loved everything about this book. Each chapter was marked as from the point of view of Mara or Rory and it kept the read from becoming stale or too one-sided. I can not recommend this book enough.